Kentucky's Rand Paul attacks health care law in new ad

Kentucky GOP Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite Rand Paul put up his first television ad of the general election today, focusing on his background as an eye surgeon and attacking the nation's new health care law.

The ad, which shows Paul in his surgical scrubs and a white doctor's coat, criticizes President Obama's health care law for putting "Washington bureaucrats in charge, destroying the doctor-patient relationship" and plays up Paul's outsider status.

"I'm a physician," Paul says in the ad, "not a career politician."

The ad comes as a series of new polling shows Paul leading Democrat Jack Conway in the race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Jim Bunning. A Rasmussen Reports survey shows Paul leading Conway 54% to 39%. A separate survey by a Democratic pollster shows the race much closer, with Paul up 48% to 45%, according to The Washington Post.

Conway, Kentucky's attorney general, began airing his first ad in late August, touting his efforts to crack down on Internet child pornography, elder abuse and the illegal prescription drug trade, according to the Associated Press.

The health care legislation, which Obama signed into law in March, would cover 30 million Americans who currently don't have health insurance. It requires most people to have some form of coverage by 2014 or pay a fine. It also expands public programs such as Medicaid and creates state-based markets to allow individuals to pool together to buy policies.

Updated at 5:23 p.m ET. A new poll for CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation also shows the race in a dead heat.

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About Catalina Camia

Catalina Camia leads the OnPolitics online community and has been at USA TODAY since 2005. She has been a reporter or editor covering politics and Congress for two decades, including stints at The Dallas Morning News and Congressional Quarterly. Follow her at @USATOnPolitics.